Poll: Majority of Wisconsin voters support marriage equality

MADISON, Wis. — A new poll released Tuesday finds a majority of Wisconsin voters favor legalizing same-sex marriage, a significant increase over polling five years ago.

The survey, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and commissioned by the advocacy group Fair Wisconsin, finds that 51 percent of respondents support marriage equality for same-sex couples, compared to only 27 percent of voters who supported full marriage equality in a 2009 survey.

“Just like the rest of the country, Wisconsinites support fairness and equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community much more than even just a few years ago,” said Katie Belanger, president and CEO of Fair Wisconsin, in a statement.

“I have said this many times in the last year or two, but this is just another example of how the question of both social and legal equality, including marriage, is no longer a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when,’” said Belanger.

The poll also found that voters overwhelmingly oppose the 1915 Marriage Evasion law that allows the state to charge someone with a felony who left Wisconsin to enter into a marriage that would otherwise be illegal in Wisconsin (73 percent oppose, 56 percent strongly oppose).

Respondents also said they support both employment protections (67 percent favor) and housing protections (68 percent) for transgender people by convincing margins.